Arrived here after an overnight flight from Chicago via Toronto. Security on El Al is tight, but the people are pleasant and it wasn’t a hassle. There’s a reason they’re the safest airline in the world! I managed to sleep a couple of hours on the plane, so I’m looking forward to a good bed tonight. The hotel (The Olive Tree) is exceptionally nice…one of the better places I’ve stayed.
After landing in Tel Aviv, we were met by the Educational Opportunities rep who had the bus waiting. It was all efficiently and pleasantly handled. This is obviously a first class operation. Leaving Tel Aviv, we began the winding hour-long trip "up" to Jerusalem, gaining 2700 feet in elevation in that hour. The scenery is beautiful–olive and citrus groves, farms, and picturesque hills. No matter where you go here, Jerusalem is the highest point which denotes its significance.
After checking into the hotel, a few of us in the group decided to wander into the old city, which is just a couple of blocks away. I say "blocks" but nothing here goes in a straight line. The streets of the old city are more like hallways with slick stone floors and lined with vendors hawking everything from fresh meat and fish hanging outside to trinkets and jewelry to religious items. At one shop called "Ali Babas" there was even a BYU sign in the window. The owner said that this is where the Mormon students always stop when they come here. Go figure.
We found our way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre–the traditional site of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial. It’s hard to get a sense of place there since everything has a church built over it. Despite that, however, the experience of touching the rock of Calvary and seeing the traditional slab on which Jesus’ body was supposed to have been laid is powerful. We’ll be going back there later in the week and I’ll have some more time to reflect on it. We stayed only briefly because it was getting dark already and the labrynth of streets going in every direction were imposing enough in daylight.
As I write this in the hotel’s business center, I hear the sound of Jewish men singing Shabbat (Sabbath) songs in the background. It doesn’t take you long to realize that you are in a different world here, where religion is not merely a tangent in people’s lives. Spirit and faith seem to ooze from every rock, street, and hill. You pass men in yamalkas, grandmothers in babushkas and shawls, Arabs in their headdress. You see steeples and minarets everywhere. It’s going to be exciting and fun to explore this place. Friday at sundown the Sabbath begins, so tomorrow most everything in the country will be closed.
We’ll be walking from the Mount of Olives along the Palm Sunday route which I’m really looking forward to…after a good dinner and 8 hours of sleep.
